A Bird With a Broken Wing
by cassiebear9925
Summary: 18 year-old Rachel Hemisaki always wished for a normal life but being a shinobi, there was never a time for relaxation. When a retrieval mission comes her way, encounters open old wounds and she beings to question her will to complete her mission.
1. Chapter 1

Name: Rachel Julianne Hemisaki

Age: 18

Hight: 5'3

Eye color: green

Hair: bleach blonde, mid back length

Strengths: ninjutsu and taijutsu

Kekai genkai: The all seeing eye

Weapons: Kuni, sharikun, senbon needles, katana, sai blades

Ranking: Jounin

Occupation:tracker nin

Village: stone

_

_**Story starts  
><strong>_It was just another day in the Stone village as the people roamed the streets and children laughed and played in the warm summer air without a care in the world. Oh how you envied them so. Instead you were stuck inside listening to the Raikage drone on and on about a new mission you could care less about.

"Rachel, are you listening to me?" The Raikage asked once he noticed your dazed expression.

"hm? Oh, yes," you replied slowly, turning your gaze from the window behind him. He gave you an exasperated look as your teammates began to laugh quietly at you. You shot them a glance as the Raikage began speaking again.

"Well then, if you were paying attention, could you repeat to me the mission I just explained to you all?" You looked at him blankly and when you didn't answer he heaved a frustrated sigh.

"Komashi has been spotted somewhere around the Rain Village and I want you all to go bring him back. We have reason to believe he's working with the Akatsuki," He explained for the second time that day. _Akatsuki...Isn't that where Deidara ran off to? _You asked yourself. Suddenly someone cleard their throat, dragging you from your thoughts.

"Yes sir, understood. When do we leave?" You asnwered before he could say anthing further.

He gave you a skeptical look before answering, "You leave tomorrow morning, you are dismissed."

The four of you stood up and bowed before exiting the room. "You feeling alright Rach?" Jin asked once you all left the building.

"Yeah," Hanna questioned, "you seem a little more distracted than usual."

"I'm fine. There's just been alot going on at home lately. No big deal," you assured them.

"Hey lets go get something to eat, I'm starved," Yuki suggested, trying to draw their attention from the subject. You gave him a thankful look as Jin exclaimed,

"Let's get some Bar B Q!"

"Yeah! Lets go!" Hanna cried as she grabbed Yuki by the wrist. Yuki caught your hand as Hanna began to drag you both down the street, following Jin. You practicly had to run just to keep up with them. People stared at you as you three entered the resturant. Yuki spotted Jin in the back and quickly made his way over. You and Hanna followed suit.

"It's about time you got here! Man you guys are slow," he mumbled the last part to himself as you all seated yourselves into the booth. Soon enough the food came and you all began to gourge yourselves in the wonderful feast.

"So, Yuki, I heard about you and that new girl hitting it off yesterday."

You and Hanna looked up at him in surprise as he glared at Jin.

"We wern't 'hitting it off' as you proclaim, I was just helping her out since her new team ditched her," he defended.

"So you call taking a girl out to dinner 'helping out'?" Jin replied smugly. Hanna gasped as you clasp your hands together and exclaimed in mock joy,

"Awww our little Yuki is growing up!"

"It seems like just yesterday he was chasing us around the training fields trying to slash our heads off."

"ARGH! Hanna that was yesterday and she's not my girlfriend!" Yuki cried getting even more frustrated and flushing a deep crimson red.

"Chill out Yuki, we're just having fun," you said, attempting to calm down the brown haired, red faced teen before you. He slumped back into his seat grumpily as you turned your attention to the slowly setting sun. _how long have we been here? two hours at least.  
><em>  
>"Hey guys," you say quietly, "I'm gonna go home and get ready for tomorrow. I suggest you all do the same, we'll meet at the gates at 6:30," you stood up and went to the door, leaving the rest of your team to watch your retreating form.<p>

"Something tells me we must be extra careful on this mission," Hanna stated solemly once you were out of hearing range.

Jin stared at her quizzically as Yuki's face became expressionless, "When she gets that saddened look in her eyes it usually means something bad is going to happen," he said in a low voice.

"Oh...," was all Jin could say as he looked back at the door you left from.

_

All was peaceful as you made your way back to the Hemisaki compound, lost in your thoughts of old times gone. _It's been 2 years to this day...since he left. Hanna was so heartbroken when she woke up. Those two were so close back then as we are now. I still cant believe he just gave up like that, I always thought Deidara was the kind of guy who just didn't know when to quit. But...I don't think I can be mad at him for leaving. Even with his talents they were so much stronger than any of us. I remember when shakumu found out. he wanted to have me charged with abandonment. Hmph, that old fossil has been out to get me since day one! _You stopped all train of thought as you unlocked the door and stepped inside

Going over to the closet, you grab your small, dark blue bag off a hook and ran up the stairs to your room. Opening the drawer to the desk you find 15 kuni and three scrolls and lay them on the bed. From under the pillow you pull out the two sai blades and add them to the pile. Dropping to the floor, you reach under the bed and pull out your katana and gently set it on the desk. Running back down the stairs and down the hall, you enter the kitchen and open up a drawer. Quickly gathering up all the senbon needles, you slam the drawer closed and run down another hall, comming to what looked like a greenhouse. Gliding through the room you picked up some extra medical supplies you would need before bouncing all the way back to your room.

Setting down your large bundle, you once again go back to the main floor and enter another  
>bedroom. Going to the center, you pull away the rug to reveal a large, square trap door. Grabbing hold of the latch, you throw it open and carefully make your way down the old wooden steps.<p>

*creeeeek*

*0.0*

You stop on the third step and blink. Suddenly the step you were on snapped and you began falling. Making a grab for the second stair, you ended up with a hand full of splinters as you came crashing into a stack of old crates ten feet below you.

"...ow...,"

20 minutes. 20 minutes pass and you felt nothing. Trapt under old crates and what-not, all alone and no one knew you were there. Closing your eyes, you prayed someone would find you and save you from this prison you were trapt in. From up above you could hear the front door open and two sets of small footsteps go into the livingroom.

"Aunt Rachel?" A child's voice called out. A fairly large grin made its way across your lips as you shouted, "THERE REALLY IS A GOD!"

Immeadiately after, the sound of running feet was heard upstairs, leading into the room above you. Two faces appeared in the small hole above, revealing to you, your niece and nephew.

"Aunt Rachel!" Your niece cried as she spotted you down below.

"Hey...you wouldn't mind getting me some help would you?" You asked from your spot on the floor.

Emiko's face changed from a look of concern to a wide smile as she said happily, "I'll be right back! Stay here Ryuu," with that she ran out of the room, down the hall, through the livingroom and out the front door.

"Are you ok, Aunt Rachel?" Ryuu asked in a small voice, clutching the stuffed bear closer to his small frame.

You smiled up at your three-year-old nephew and said in a reasuring tone, "I'm alright sweetie. I'm just a bit stuck," you wiggled around a bit to prove your point. He gave a little smile as he nodded. Once again the front door swung open as Emiko's voice rang out through the house.

"Hey! You alright down there Rae?" The voice of your older brother called out.

"Yeah! Just get me outta here will ya?" You called back.

"Alright I'm comming down." There was a moment of silence as he made his way down the creeking stairs and over to you. he began pushing the boxes and crates off and away from you. When the last crate was lifted away, you slowly sat up and looked yourself over.

"Anything broken?" Kyoshi asked as he kneeled beside you.

"Nah, just a few cuts and bruises, nothin' to serious," you replied back. You took his hand as he stood, pulling you up along with him.

"So...what were you doing down here anyway?" He questioned looking around the large room.

"I was getting ready for a mission tomorrow and needed some things from down here," you answered, going to the other side of the room. Taking a box from a shelf you do a quick check and, deeming it to be the right one, walk back over to kyoshi.

"What's that?" He asked eyeing the box in your hands.

"Just some extra weapons and scrolls I might need," you answered in a bored tone, calmly moving past him. The both of you slowly make your way back up to the main floor with out a word.

"So what is this mission you're going on?" Kyoshi asked curiously as the four of you went up to your room. Emiko and Ryuu wondered over to your closet to get out some clothes for you.

"We're going to the Rain Village to find Komashi," you said, looking for a certain scroll.

"Isn't he working for Akatsuki?"

"Supposedly... Ah! There it is!" You exclaimed happily. Kyoshi leaned over to see what you were holding up,

"The 'Scroll of Lightening'? What are you gonna do with that?" Your only reply was a mischivious grin as you began sealing some of the extra weapons into the empty scrolls.

"FINISHED!" The two toddlers yelled. You looked up only to find that they had cleaned out your entire closet. The widely grinning pair became puzzled when you started laughing. You shake your head at them as you say, "I don't think I'm going to be gone that long."

"We're sorry, Aunt Rachel," Ryuu said embarrassedly. You smiled lightly at them as you lifted him up into your arms.

"It's ok. C'mon, I'll make you guys some snackes."

this has got to be the longest thing I've ever written. I hope that this chapter wasn't to bad. It was really more of an introduction than anything. The next one will be the actual mission and some very strange incounters... well anyway rate and review please =) I'll give you a cookie if you do!


	2. Chapter 2

You looked at your watch for the third time that morning and heaved a great sigh. "Where the heck are they?" You asked in annoyance to yourself. You pulled your cloak closer to yourself and shivered as a cold wind blew past. Looking up and to the left, you spotted Yuki jumping over the rooftops toward the gates. A small scowl went unnoticed behind your mask as he stopped in front of you.

"Have you seen Hanna and Jin yet?" You asked impatiently as you slid to the ground. Yuki watched you a moment before replying,

"Hanna is on the next street over and Jin was just leaving his apartment." You gave a frustrated sigh and shifted your gaze to the ground.

"Well someone is irritable this morning," he noted more to himself than to you.

"I just wanna get this done and over with," you replied in a much calmer tone. Several moments pass in silence as the two of you waited. The sound of gravel crunching under soft footsteps made you both fully aware of the two cloaked figures coming toward you and another scowl crossed your face.

"It's about time," you muttered to yourself as you stood from your previous sitting position. Yuki could only shake his head at you.

"Let's go before Rachel Tries to bite our heads off," he said to them in a half joking manner. You grunted quietly as the other two giggled, knowing just how much of a morning person you were not. You started out the gates, your teammates close behind. Within a few hours you all make it to the border of the Earth Country and stop for a break.

"Alright, Jin, you the get food. Yuki, I want you to get some water. Hanna and I will get firewood, lets go," you commanded.

"Hai," they answered before going off to do their assigned jobs. You pulled out your katana as Hanna took out a kunai and started hacking down some old tree limbs. A big splash caught your attention, making you turn just in time to see a huge fish jump out of the water and smack both Yuki and Jin in the face before landing back into the water. The two teens fell on their asses cursing up a storm, frantically rubbing at their eyes.

"Damn it, Jin, I told you to leave it alone!" Yuki screamed, whacking poor Jin on the back of the head. Jin gripped his head and whined, all the while you and Hanna nearly fell over in hysterics. You stopped abruptly at the feeling of being watched. You looked up into the trees only to see a dark figure ad glowing golden eyes staring back at you. The figure turned and jumped away and you took off after it. The others began yelling for you to wait as you kept up the pursuit of the mysterious figure watching you.

You took out a couple kunai and threw them at the person. They dodged the attack and slowed down a bit. The trees around you began to shake as the branches shot out at you. You cleared the attack perfectly and continued the chase. Your eyes narrowed slightly, _ So you're a grass shinobi huh? How interesting... _The shinobi finally jumped out of the trees and you followed after. You made a few hand seals then placed your hand flat on the ground.

"Katsu!" You whispered. The cloaked man turned, surprised, as the ground shot up, racing toward him at an alarming rate. He managed to get out of the way at the last second and was now fully facing you again.

"Who are you?" He asked, his tone harsh and demanding.

"I could ask you the same, what do you want?"

He didn't reply, his piercing stare going right through you. By now the others had caught up and were now perched in the trees behind you, waiting for your signal to attack.

"Why are you here?" A different, lighter, but equally demanding voice asked.

You were slightly caught off guard by the second voice, though you could tell it had been from the same man standing in the shadows. "That isn't any of your concern, now answer my question, who are you and what do you want?"

The tension in the air thickened and you activated your **[1]**kekkei genkai. Your vision honed in on the enemy and you could now see him much more clearly. He was wearing a long black cloak with red clouds, one you new all too well, and appeared to have some sort of plant on his shoulders; one half of the man's face was black while the other was white. _I remember seeing him in the bingo book once; I believe his name was Zetsu..._

You watched as he made a series of complicated hand signs and saw the tree branch Jin was standing next too go

through his heart. **[2]**You turned just as Zetsu began raising his hands and threw a kunai in Jin's direction. The knife

landed by his left foot. Jin jumped to the right and got out of the way moments before Zetsu completed the jutsu.

"We will meet again soon," the voices spoke and then he was gone, sinking into the solid Earth like a rock through

water.

"It was the Akatsuki, wasn't it?" Yuki asked, though he already knew the answer. You replied anyway and retrieved

your kunai.

"No more fooling around, now that we know we are officially dealing with the Akatsuki, we will treat this as an

S-ranked mission. Komashi must be dealt with immediately."

**[1] With the All Seeing Eye, you are able to see 20 seconds into the future which makes the members of the Hemisaki Clan formidable opponents. **

**[2] Yes, Jin knew you weren't actually aiming to hit him. This was to be a warning that Zetsu's attack was aimed at him.**


End file.
